Melaka election: Candidates hit campaign trail in compliance with SOP

Contestants from Barisan Nasional (BN), Perikatan Nasional (PN), Pakatan Harapan (PH), Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) and Parti Perikatan India Muslim Nasional (IMAN) as well as independent candidates seem to prefer using social media like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Youtube to reach out to voters.

Some were also seen making their rounds on vehicles fitted with loudspeakers to deliver campaign speeches, especially in villages and housing estates.

PN's Facebook page, for example, uses the platform to promote its 28 candidates, with each making a speech of about 30 seconds to introduce themselves and the constituency they are contesting in.

In addition, posters in digital form were disseminated through the WhatsApp application and other social media with a brief description of the candidates to make it easier for voters to know the individuals contesting in each state seat.

Melaka PH chairman Adly Zahari decided to be different by riding an electric scooter to distribute campaign leaflets from house to house at a housing estate in the Bukit Katil constituency where he is contesting.

The 50-year-old also uploaded creative graphics and caricatures made by young people as one of his strategies to reach out to this group, which accounts for 10,545 of the 25,945 voters in the constituency, which he won in the last general election.

The same approach was used by Melaka PN chairman Datuk Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen, who talked about his childhood when growing up in Ujong Pasir here, emphasising the point that he is a local candidate for the Telok Mas seat.

"Ujong Pasir is my hometown. I went to school at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Ujong Pasir for six years (Primary One to Six), lived and grew up in Taman Jaya Padang Temu.

"My father and mother used to run a grocery store in Ujong Pasir for seven years and operated as a Petronas cooking gas distributor for 10 years in Taman Jaya Padang Temu. I am an N23 Telok Mas local," he said.

Putra uploaded a video on YouTube featuring Melaka Putra chairman Mohd Aluwi Sari, who is standing in Pengkalan Batu, and linked the video on Facebook.

BN and DAP used trucks and lorries fitted with digital screens and loudspeakers to make campaign announcements in urban and rural areas.

The SOP prohibits the holding of talks, lectures, face-to-face campaigns, house-to-house visits and walkabouts.

But some candidates deliberately had breakfast and afternoon tea in media focus areas to get the best coverage.

The absence of a candidate programme schedule has caused WhatsApp groups created by political parties to be bombarded with various enquiries from media personnel, while little is known of the campaign activities of the 15 Independent candidates grouped under the Gagasan Bebas.

The poster and flag war only began to be felt on the second day of the campaign in most places in the state.

Today, the focus will be on the launch of the BN and PH manifestos while PN, Putra, IMAN and 22 Independent candidates have yet to make known their plans on manifestos.